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[ad_1] The history of mRNA vaccines The decades of development behind mRNA vaccine technology 02:32 Stockholm — The Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded to Hungarian Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the U.S. for discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 . Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Assembly, announced the award Monday in Stockholm. "Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest ...

[ad_1] The Biden administration is planning to end the COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11, and expects to run out of government-bought vaccines and treatments as soon as this summer and fall. Those moves could spell the end for a wide range of efforts launched by health authorities over the past few years to curb the virus, although Congress and the federal government have moved to ensure some can outlive the formal end of the COVID-19 emergency. Here's the latest on what we know about what's in store. Can health authorities still track COVID-19 spread and infections? Some data the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires to be reported about COVID-19 will still be uploaded through at least 2024, according to rules finalized last year . This includes data tracking infections from hospitals and nursing homes . "For over a year, CMS has been working alongside states, public health departments, and stakehol...

[ad_1] U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus. This means Americans would no longer have to keep track of how many shots they've received or how many months it's been since their last booster. The proposal comes as boosters have become a hard sell. While more than 80% of the U.S. population has had at least one vaccine dose, only 16% of those eligible have received the latest boosters authorized in August. The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting Thursday. The agency is expected to take their advice into consideration while deciding future vaccine requirements for manufacturers. In documents posted online, FDA scientists say many Ame...

[ad_1] Some U.S. parents were not honest about their children's coronavirus symptoms, quarantine measures and testing guidelines, potentially contributing to viral spread, according to a study published in the  Journal of the American Medical Association  on Monday.  The study, which was conducted by researchers in the U.S. and England, aimed to examine "the prevalence of misrepresentations of and nonadherence to COVID-19–related [public health measures] by parents regarding their children, their reasons, and associations of individual characteristics with these behaviors." Over 1,700 U.S. adults were sampled in the study over the course of December 2021, as Omicron variant rates skyrocketed across the country, including 580 parents who had children younger than 18 years old living with them throughout the pandemic. Seventy percent of the respondents were women, and all participants were recruited online. A quarter of par...

[ad_1] Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults and older teens had still not caught COVID-19 by the end of last year, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 77.5% had antibodies from at least one prior infection. The figures are based on the final batch of results from the agency's nationwide studies of antibodies in Americans ages 16 and up.  Federal officials often cited estimates from these studies in moving to simplify vaccine recommendations and loosen COVID-19 restrictions, as the Biden administration wound down the public health emergency earlier this year.  Virtually every American ages 16 and older — 96.7% — had antibodies either from getting vaccinated, surviving the virus or some combination of the two by December, the CDC now estimates. The study found 77.5% had at least some of their immunity from a prior infection. Of all age groups, seniors have the smallest share of Americans with ...